Andromana : or the merchant's wife :: :: University of Virginia Library

Enter Plangus and Inophilus talking to him.
Ino.
But Sir, when you consider she's a woman—

Pl.
O dear Inophilus!
Let earth and heav'n forget, there are such things;
Or if they ever name them, let it be with a curse
Heavy as are the ills they act; a Mandrakes note
Would ring a better peal of Musick
In my ears, then those two syllables pronounc't agen.

Ino.
Pray Sir, put off this humour,
This peevish Pet, and reason tamely; Sir, you
Have lost a Wench, and will you therefore lose
Your self too? Hear me but patiently a word or two.

Pl.
Prethee go teach the Gally-slaves that word,
Things that dare own no thought beyond their chains,
And stand in fear of whipping, and wanting bread:
Bid them be tame and patient that fry in Sulphur,
'Tis a word I have forsworn to know the meaning of,
Or if I must, 'tis but to shun it, and hate it more.
Oh! were thy wrongs as great as mine, Inophilus,
Or didst thou love me half so well as thou dost Plangus,
Thou would'st instill into me the poyson of revenge,
And puff me up with thought of vengeance,
Till I did burst, and like a breaking cloud
Spread a contagion on those have injur'd me.

Ino.
Why this were handsome in some Country-fellow,
Whose soul is dirty
As the thing he's mad for;

'Twere pretty in a Lady that had lost her Dog,
But—

Pl.

I know what thou wouldst say,
But for Plangus: Oh tis for none but him to be so.
Those that have injur'd me are persons
I once held dearer then my eyes, But how much
Greater was my love, so much the more is the offence;
Wounds from our friends are deepest.
Had any but my father—And yet me thinks
That name should have protected me,
Or was it made only to secure offenders?
My life was his, he gave it me, my honour too
I could have parted with; but 'las my love
Was none of mine, no more then vows made to a Deity,
And not performd—And for that creature,
Who must be lost for ills through which
I must make way to my revenge,
Had she betrayd my honour to any thing
But him that gave me being,
She had made me half amends, in that my way
To vengeance had been open; Now I am spurr'd
Forward to revenge by fury, and yet
Held in by the rein of a foolish piety,
That doth no man good but them that use it not:
Tis like the Misers I doll, it yeelded him no gold
Till he had broke the head off.

Nay, Inophilus, one secret more,
And the horror of it blow thee from earth to heaven,
Where there are no such things as women,
Twill turn thy soul the inside outside outward.
I cannot get it out. Prethee what is't Inophilus?

Ino.
Alas! I know not, Sir.

Pl.
Do but imagine the worst of ills
Earth ever groan'd under; a sin nothing but woman,
Nay such a woman as Andromana durst think on;
And it is that.

Ino.
How revenge transports you!
Princes have lost their Mistresses before,

Nay, and to those have not such right to them
As hath Ephorbas to what Plangus hath;
Who could command her, if not Ephorbas.

Pl.
But I have—Oh Inophilus—I burst—
Yet it will out—dost thou not see it here
Unbuttons his doublet.
Oh I have known Andromana as
Ephorbas did last night.—

Ino.
Why Sir, the sin done by your Father is not yours
If you could not help it.—

Pl.
Why there it is:
Tis that which gnaws me here;
But I swore
By all the gods that she was as innocent
From my unclean imbraces, as is
The new faln Snow, or Ermines that will meet
Ten deaths before one spot: I made my father think
The thoughts of Angels were less innocent then she.
No it was I betray'd him; his vertue was too great,
Not to have suspected it.
How do I look Inophilus.

In.
Like some blest man that griev'd for other sins,
And could out of a good nature part with half
His own whiteness to purge the others stains.

Pl.

Now thou sooth'st, and like some flattering glass
Presents me to advantage. I am in short,
One born to make Iberia unhappy.
Had I as black a face as is my soul,
You'd finde in respect of it Ægyptians were snow white.
Me thinks I hear heaven tell me I am slow,
And it is time I had begun revenge.
Ephorbas has done him wrong who lov'd him
More then heaven or his happiness, and would
Have run out of the world to have left him free,
What ever he would lay claim to but Andromana;
Nay she also had been his, so't could have been without a sin,
But she knew the sin she acted, and yet did it,
And lives free from the stroke of thunder.

Is there such such a thing as heaven, or such a one
As Justice dwells there? and can I ask the question?
O the tameness of a conscience loaded with sin!
Which reasons and talks when it should do.

But I will be reveng'd, and thus I begin, Inophilus,

He draws.

Be sure when I am dead to meet my ghost,
And do as that instructs thee; 'twill tell all the particulars
Of my revenge, who must dye first, who last, and
What way too; I have my lesson perfect.

He leans the pummel on the ground to fall on it. Inoph. kicks it by with his foot.
Ino.
Is this the revenge befits great Plangus?

Pl.
Had this been done two dayes ago—
Thou durst as well have met the lightning
Naked, as have oppos'd my will thus.

Ino.
Hear me.
He draws.
Ask me no questions, nor answer me,—or if you do,
By heav'n I'le never speak more.
It is revenge you'd have, and tis a great one, a very noble one
To kill your self.
Be confident your greatest foes wish nothing more,
When after ages come to hear your story.
What will they say? Just as they did of Cato,
He durst not look great Cæsar in the face;
So Plangus was afraid and dyed:
A very pretty story, and much to a man's credit;
For shame, dear Plangus (let friendship use that title)
Shew your great soul the world beleeves you're the Master of
(And I dare swear you are) in this action.
Nay rally up your self, and fight it stoutly,
Shake from your minde revenge, and having lay'd
That passion by, put on that vertue
The world admires in you, 'tis now the time to shew it:
The Sun broke from a cloud doubles his light,
And fire the more resisted flames more bright.
Andromana has injur'd you scorn her therefore,
And shew she had done nothing; I'de not do her the favour
To have one thought for her, or could be troubled
At that she did,—As for your father, Sir,
Besides the tye of nature, he knows not he hath wrong'd you:

Or if he doth, tis love that caus'd him; a word that once
Made an excuse with Plangus for what offence soever.

Pl.
Thou hast wrought upon me,
And I am resolv'd to live a day or two more:
But if I like it not—
Well, I will go to try to sleep a little—perhaps that may—
I'me strangely Melancholy—prethee lye down by me
Inophilus, I'me safe while in thy company.

Exeunt.